U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF  LABOR 
WORKING  CONDITIONS  SERVICE 

GRANT  HAMILTON,  Director  General 


TREATMENT  OF 
DUSTRIAL  PROBLEMS  by 
10NSTRUCTIVE  METHODS 


OT 


WASHINGTON 
QOVKRNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICH 

1919 


U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF  LABOR 
WORKING  CONDITIONS  SERVICE 

GRANT  HAMILTON,  Director  General 


TREATMENT  OF 
INDUSTRIAL  PROBLEMS  by 
CONSTRUCTIVE  METHODS 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE 
1919 


TREATMENT  OF  INDUSTRIAL  PROBLEMS  BY  CONSTRUCTIVE 

METHODS. 


Every  employer  is  interested  in  developing  a  stable,  efficient  work- 
ing force.  But  not  every  employer  understands  how  much  industrial 
health,  safety,  and  good  relationship  between  employers  and  em- 
ployed contribute  toward  that  end.  To  supply  industries  with  this 
fundamental  information  and  with  a  consulting  service  free  from 
bias  and  partisan  propaganda  are  functions  of  the  Working  Con- 
ditions Service,  Department  of  Labor. 

The  business  world  has  previously  been  inclined  to  regard  efforts 
to  promote  industrial  health,  safety,  and  employment  management 
as  humanitarian  idealism — or  perhaps  fads  of  the  kind  hearted. 
But  these  are  problems  that  confront  every  executive  responsible  for 
production.  As  production  must  be  maintained  upon  a  paying  basis, 
management  is  constantly  studying  all  elements  that  constitute  costs 
of  production.  Many  firms  have  included  under  labor  costs  expendi- 
tures for  wages  only.  Scientific  study  has  revealed  other  labor  costs 
in  addition  to  wages.  By  adopting  better  policies  costs  can  be 
reduced.  The  Working  Conditions  Service  is  rendering  invaluable 
assistance  to  employers  in  developing  and  establishing  these  better 
policies. 

The  prevention  of  sickness,  accidents,  and  labor  disturbances  is 
recognized  as  good  business.  Banks,  which  are  the  barometers  of 
the  business  world,  regard  good  labor  policies  as  an  asset  of  a  client. 
Several  banks  are  now  advising  industries  upon  labor  policies.  An 
influential  eastern  bank  requested  the  Working  Conditions  Service 
to  prepare  a  pamphlet  on  industrial  relations  to  be  circulated  among 
its  clientele. 

The  Service,  in  complying,  laid  down  the  fundamental  groundwork 
for  enduring  understanding.  Employers  generally  are  interested 
in  making  working  conditions  the  best  that  can  be  maintained  con- 
sistently with  good  business.  The  determination  of  harmful  con- 
ditions and  the  establishment  of  improvements  involve  scientific 
study  and  the  assistance  of  technical  experts.  Supplying  industries 
with  this  service  leads  to  two  beneficial  results — increased  production 

(3) 

111255°— 19 


and  conservation  of  the  lives  and  health  of  industrial  workers.  Both 
results  are  a  tremendous  national  advantage.  Therefore  the  Depart- 
ment of  Labor  is  furnishing  employers  free  of  charge  an  expert  con- 
sulting service  equipped  to  study  existing  conditions  and  policies, 
to  uncover  defects,  and  to  recommend  improvements  and  assist  in 
their  installment.  As  the  Department  of  Labor  is  the  Federal 
agency  charged  with  promoting  the  interests  of  labor,  the  recom- 
mendations of  the  Working  Conditions  Service  have  the  confidence 
of  the  workers. 

Working  conditions,  the  field  in  which  the  Service  is  functioning, 
include  the  environment  of  the  place  of  work,  production  processes, 
and  relations  between  all  those  engaged  in  the  work — both  the  man- 
agement and  the  workers.  The  Service  deals  with  wages  and  hours 
only  as  scientific  elements  affecting  the  health  and  well-being  of  the 
workers.  Long  hours  of  work  which  result  in  excessive  fatigue  have 
a  direct  influence  on  health,  accident  frequency,  and  the  producing 
power  of  the  individual.  They  lower  morale.  The  determination 
of  wages  and  hours  as  an  agreement  between  employer  and  worker 
does  not  lie  within  the  scope  of  this  Service.  The  Service  does  not 
act  as  arbiter  or  conciliator  upon  wages,  hours,  or  working  conditions 
that  are  involved  in  industrial  disputes.  In  other  words,  working 
conditions  as  dealt  with  by  this  Service  are  those  phases  which  can 
be  studied  and  determined  scientifically.  Our  relation  to  employers 
and  employees  is  that  of  consulting  expert  and  not  that  of  arbiter 
or  referee. 

The  authority  of  the  Working  Conditions  Service  is  wholly  ad- 
visory. Since  the  improvement  of  working  conditions  is  a  scientific 
field,  society  recognizes  that  can  best  be  accomplished  by  advising 
employers  on  working  out  their  problems  and  helping  them  to  find 
better  ways  than  by  penalizing  shortcomings  and  threats  of  the  "  Big 
Stick."  By  the  advisory  method  those  responsible  for  working  con- 
ditions must  be  convinced  of  the  advantages  of  the  standards  urged. 
Once  the  idea  is  accepted  by  them  it  becomes  part  of  the  management 
policies,  not  a  mandatory  regulation  imposed  from  the  outside. 

The  Working  Conditions  Service  is  developing  in  its  Washington 
office  a  national  informational  center  upon  industrial  health,  safety, 
and  labor  administration.  This  information  is  available  to  all  mak- 
ing requests.  But  in  addition  to  general  information  the  employer 
wants  to  know  what  to  do  under  the  conditions  existing  in  his  own 
plant.  The  only  practical  way  to  help  that  employer  is  to  send  to 
his  office  or  plant  a  specialist  jointly  to  examine  with  the  employer, 
conditions,  methods,  and  relationships  existing.  Recommendations 
can  then  be  based  upon  first-hand  knowledge  of  the  situation  and  the 
point  of  view  of  employers. 


In  developing  plans  to  carry  out  the  purpose  of  the  Working  Con- 
ditions Service,  three  divisions  were  established:  Division  of  Indus- 
trial Hygiene  and  Medicine,  Division  of  Safety  Enginering,  Division 
of  Labor  Administration. 

DIVISION  OF  INDUSTRIAL  HYGIENE  AND  MEDICINE. 

The  function  of  the  Division  of  Industrial  Hygiene  and  Medicine 
is  to  protect  and  improve  the  health  of  those  employed  in  industry 
and  thereby  facilitate  productivity.  Conservation  of  the  health  is 
of  importance  not  only  to  workers  and  employers,  but  to  the  com- 
munity. To  see  that  industries  are  safe  and  healthful,  therefore,  is 
a  governmental  responsibility.  In  assuming  the  responsibility  the 
Department  of  Labor  recognized  that  industrial  hygiene  is  essen- 
tially a  public  health  matter,  but  also  a  matter  which  fundamentally 
affects  the  personal  interests  of  men,  women,  and  children  in- 
dustrially employed,  and  vitally  affects  social  welfare  and  industrial 
efficiency.  In  order  to  protect  the  interests  of  these  human  beings 
their  confidence  and  cooperation  must  be  secured.  This  can  best  be 
done  through  the  Department  of  Labor,  an  agency  devoted  to  their 
special  interests. 

That  the  service  might  be  thorough  it  was  deemed  wise  to  co- 
ordinate public  health  activities  affecting  industries  with  provisions 
for  safety  and  labor  administration.  Therefore  a  joint  arrangement 
was  made  by  the  Secretary  of  Labor  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury whereby  personnel  should  be  detailed  from  the  United  States 
Public  Health  Service  to  the  Working  Conditions  Service  to  func- 
tion as  the  Division  of  Industrial  Hygiene  and  Medicine.  The  per- 
sonnel thus  detailed  is  composed  not  only  of  industrial  physicians, 
hygienists,  and  sanitarians,  but  highly  specialized  engineers  familiar 
with  problems  of  light,  ventilation,  production,  and  other  factors 
affecting  alike  the  engineering  and  health  side  of  industry. 

In  developing  a  national  program  to  promote  industrial  health 
there  have  been  two  fundamental  ideas  recognized.  That  control 
over  physical  working  conditions  is  in  the  hands  of  the  management, 
and  second,  that  the  approval  and  cooperation  of  workers  are  neces- 
sary to  make  the  equipment  and  regulations  effective. 

It  needs  no  argument  to  prove  to  employers  that  vigorous  healthy 
workers  do  better  and  more  work  in  return  for  wages  paid  them 
than  workers  handicapped  by  sickness  or  physical  impairment  can 
render.  Workers  know  that  health  means  power  to  work  and  is  part 
of  their  trade  capital.  But  both  management  and  worker  need 
assistance  in  understanding  what  conditions  in  industrial  plants  con- 
stitute health  hazards.  Specialists  are  necessary  to  keep  advised 
both  employers  and  employees  what  working  conditions  are  doing 


to  the  bodies  of  workers.  Dust,  fumes,  poisonous  work  materials, 
bad  air,  bad  lighting,  dirt,  inadequate  sanitary  provision,  result  in 
sick  workers  and  poor  production.  Paying  workers  compensation 
for  accidents  and  sickness  only  tides  them  over  an  emergency  period. 
They  come  back  physically  weaker  and  therefore  less  efficient  workers. 
The  production  problem  is  in  no  way  solved.  The  management  does 
not  secure  the  returns  it  ought  to  receive.  The  only  effective  and 
constructive  course  is  to  find  out  what  conditions  cause  the  sickness 
and  poor  production  and  eliminate  these  causes.  Healthy,  vigorous 
workers  produce  more  than  those  with  physical  handicaps.  The 
management  gets  many  returns  for  all  outlays  for  health  conserva- 
tion. The  Division  of  Industrial  Hygiene  and  Medicine  offers  to 
production  managers  the  benefit  of  the  best  information  available 
and  the  assistance  of  specialists  in  eliminating  industrial  health 
hazards. 

The  work  which  the  division  is  carrying  on  has  two  fundamental 
objectives: 

(a)  To  develop  hygienic  standards  for  industries; 
(6)  To  develop  and  standardize  systems  of  medical  and  surgical 
service. 

Practically  every  kind  of  production  has  its  peculiar  health 
hazards.  In  the  dusty  trades,  the  relation  between  the  occupation  and 
diseases  which  shorten  the  lives  of  many  workers  is  more  conspicuous 
than  the  insidious  dangers  which  sap  the  vitality  of  workers  in  other 
kinds  of  production.  Lead  poisoning  has  been  found  among  workers 
of  many  trades.  Obnoxious  and  poisonous  fumes  characterize  the 
chemical  trades.  Makers  of  explosives  handle  poisons  that  have 
serious  dermatic  and  systemic  effects.  Those  who  use  cutting  oils 
are  liable  to  contract  furunculosis,  folliculitis,  and  other  skin  dis- 
eases. Miners,  leather  workers,  textile  operatives,  and  workers  in 
practically  every  industry  are  liable  to  special  risks,  not  the  least  of 
which  are  diseases  of  the  lungs  and  respiratory  tracts. 

In  order  to  safeguard  workers  against  these  occupational  hazards, 
working  conditions  and  processes  must  be  studied  by  scientists  with 
special  training  in  production  as  it  affects  health.  Investigations 
uncover  the  causes  of  industrial  sickness  and  lead  to  the  development 
of  hygienic  standards  that  protect  the  lives  and  health  of  workers. 
The  researches  of  the  Division  of  Industrial  Hygiene  and  Medicine 
cover  three  main  fields : 

(1)  General  hygienic  conditions  in  industries  in  order  to  de- 

termine  wherein    existing  conditions   both   within   and 
without  plants  comply  with  sanitary  requirements; 

(2)  Specific  occupational  diseases  and  poisonings  to  ascertain 

cause,  effect  and  prevention; 


(3)  Physiological  requirements  of  various  occupations  as  the 
basis  for  developing  methods  of  proper  placement  of 
workers  with  regard  to  physical  ability. 

In  order  to  make  the  results  of  scientific  researches  and  informa- 
tion available  to  industries  in  the  most  effective  manner  the  division 
offers  the  following : 

For  those  industries  which  are  under  governmental  control  it  offers 
to  install  and  supervise  departments  of  health  and  sanitation,  to 
introduce  and  standardize  records  and  reports  and  direct  researches 
into  any  actual  or  alleged  hazard,  outlining  the  necessary  engineer- 
ing and  prophylactic  measures  to  reduce  the  seriousness  of  such 
hazards  or  eliminate  them  entirely,  that  will  enable  the  management 
to  know  health  conditions  and  results  of  policies  and  methods. 

To  industries  under  private  control,  consulting  service  is  furnished 
to  improve  hygienic  conditions  and  medical  service.  Upon  request 
the  division  will  make  a  health  survey  of  the  plant,  make  recom- 
mendations to  the  management,  and,  if  desired,  supervise  the  install- 
ment of  recommendations. 

Since  the  health  of  workers  is  affected  by  conditions  outside  the 
plant  as  well  as  by  the  working  environment,  it  is  often  necessary 
to  study  the  home  surroundings  of  workers  in  relation  to  industrial 
life.  The  United  States  Public  Health  Service  has  decided  that  the 
portion  of  that  organization  detailed  to  the  Working  Conditions 
Service  shall  have  authority  over  the  industrial  zone  including  both 
working  and  living  conditions  as  affecting  health.  This  arrange- 
ment, which  could  exist  only  under  the  agreement  between  the  Public 
Health  Service  and  the  Working  Conditions  Service,  makes  possible 
effective  industrial  health  study  and  improvement. 

Industrial  medicine  is  the  application  of  medical  practice  to  the 
industrial  field.  Industrial  managers  are  coming  generally  to  recog- 
nize the  business  value  of  providing  medical  service  for  their  workers. 
When  accidents  occur,  first  aid  must  be  available  and  injured  workers 
returned  to  work  as  soon  as  possible.  This  policy  is  the  result  of 
experience  under  compensation  legislation  as  well  as  the  prompting 
of  humanitarian  instincts.  Though  the  work  of  the  first  industrial 
physicians  was  mainly  curative,  possibilities  of  the  preventive  field 
are  becoming  increasingly  evident.  The  larger  work  of  the  plant 
physician  is  to  keep  workers  in  good  physical  condition.  An  essen- 
tial to  this  end  is  physical  examination.  If  proper  safeguards  are 
provided,  periodic  physical  examination  of  workers  by  the  industrial 
physician  or  an  industrial  clinic  produces  information  of  physical 
weakness  and  tendencies,  so  that  with  proper  advice  sickness  or 
breakdowns  may  be  avoided. 

Physical  examinations  have  been  misused  by  some  employers  and 
•therefore  have  incurred  distrust  among  some  workers.  They  have 


8 

been  used  to  disclose  physical  weaknesses  and  to  debar  men  from 
work  opportunities  without  performing  the  constructive  functions 
of  indicating  the  kind  of  work  for  which  workers  found  to  be  physi- 
cally handicapped  are  safely  fitted.  Properly  used  the  physical 
examination  is  the  basis  for  efforts  to  promote  industrial  health  and 
to  fit  men  to  jobs. 

In  order  to  develop  medical  supervision  and  practice  in  industries 
and  to  secure  most  effective  protection  for  workers  as  well  as  to 
insure  highest  productivity  for  the  management,  the  Division  of 
Industrial  Hygiene  and  Medicine  is  developing  and  standardizing 
systems  of  medical  and  surgical  service,  and  formulating  standard 
systems  of  records  and  reports  that  will  furnish  the  basis  for  intel- 
ligent policies. 

Owners  of  small  industrial  plants  sometimes  feel  unable  to  main- 
tain a  plant  dispensary  and  physician.  The  Division  of  Industrial 
Hygiene  and  Medicine  will  endeavor  to  develop  a  plan  to  care  for 
the  workers  in  such  plants.  It  advises  and  assists  groups  of  em- 
ployers to  establish  and  control  medical  supervision  and  aid  for  all, 
and  also  assists  in  establishing  industrial  clinics  for  the  workers  of 
a  community. 

To  further  assist  industrial  medicine,  the  division  maintains  a 
register  for  physicians,  nurses,  and  sanitarians  trained  industrially. 
This  register  assists  employers  to  secure  competent  persons  and  to 
supervise  and  direct  projects  aimed  to  provide  indispensable  surgery 
and  medicine  in  maintaining  industrial  health.  As  the  supply  of 
specialists  with  adequate  industrial  training  is  very  limited,  it  is  urg- 
ing that  colleges,  universities,  and  technical  schools  provide  instruc- 
tion in  industrial  hygiene  and  medicine. 

General  interest  in  the  field  of  industrial  health  is  stimulated  by 
encouraging  discussions  on  industrial  topics  before  scientific  so- 
cieties and  conference  groups,  physicians,  surgeons,  and  scientists. 
The  division  also  prepares  and  publishes  reports,  statistics,  and  other 
informative  literature  dealing  with  industrial  health. 

DIVISION  OF  SAFETY  ENGINEERING. 

In  addition  to  making  work  shops  safe  from  the  health  viewpoint, 
they  must  be  safe  from  the  accident  standpoint.  The  relation  be- 
tween industrial  accidents  and  working  conditions  is  much  more 
obvious  than  that  between  occupational  diseases  and  their  causes. 
Consequently  general  information  on  industrial  accidents  is  more 
comprehensive  and  such  mishaps  have  more  quickly  been  made  a 
charge  upon  industry.  Safety  engineering,  safety  organization,  and 
safety  propaganda  followed  closely  upon  compensation  legislation. 
Though  much  has  already  been  done  in  the  safety  field,  a  still  greater 
work  lies  ahead. 


Many  State  departments  of  labor  have  divisions  to  further  indus- 
trial safety  and  have  formulated  safety  codes.  Nongovernmental 
agencies  have  developed  standards  and  safe  practices.  Because,  in 
part,  of  the  lack  of  a  central  clearing  house  for  the  exchange  of 
information  based  upon  experimentation  and  practical  experiences 
there  is  no  uniformity  of  theory  or  practice.  Different  agencies 
working  without  regard  for  each  other  have  caused  a  duplication  of 
efforts  and  conflicts  in  recommendation. 

The  Division  of  Safety  Engineering  of  the  Working  Conditions 
Service  provides  in  the  Federal  Government  a  national  agency  for 
coordinating  industrial  safety  work  and  serving  as  the  necessary 
clearing  house  for  information  and  experience  relating  to  safety  in 
industry. . 

The  industrial  safety  program  deals  with  industrial  hazards  in 
three  classes: 

Those  due  to  engineering  defects. 

Those  due  to  the  human  element. 

Those  due  to  unavoidable  trade  risks. 

To  eliminate  these  hazards,  there  must  be  engineering  research 
and  investigation,  studies  of  methods  and  policies  tried  out  in  prac- 
tice and  tested  as  shown  by  accident  statistics,  and  information  fur- 
nished by  employers  and  employees  as  to  accident  hazards  and  their 
prevention. 

The  prevention  of  accidents  involves  something  more  than  elimi- 
nating "  ignorance  and  carelessness  "  of  workers.  Accident  statistics 
show  that  accidents  which  result  in  loss  of  life  and  major  injuries 
are  in  the  main  due  to  lack  of  mechanical  safeguards,  arrange- 
ment of  buildings  and  yards,  construction  of  buildings,  defects  in 
machinery,  and  other  causes  that  lie  within  the  engineering  field. 
This  phase  of  safety  work  is  highly  technical,  but  it  is  the  heart  of 
the  problem. 

The  Division  of  Safety  Engineering  is  developing  a  national  clear- 
ing house  for  information  on  plant  layout  and  construction  with 
reference  to  safety  in  production,  structural  safety,  mechanical  safe- 
guarding, forms  of  safety  organization  used  in  different  industries, 
bulletin  board  methods  and  material. 

The  information  collected  in  the  central  office  is  accessible  to  in- 
vestigators and  is  being  made  generally  available  through  bulletins 
and  circulars  on  all  phases  of  industrial  safety.  The  spirit  of  co- 
operation manifested  by  private  industries  is  facilitating  and  ac- 
celerating the  development  of  this  informational  clearing  house. 

The  importance  of  the  engineering  phase  of  industrial  safety  can 
be  driven  home  only  through  a  thorough  educational  campaign  for 
all  concerned  in  production.  Of  pivotal  importance  is  the  incorpora- 


10 

tion  of  industrial  safety  in  engineering  courses.  The  Working  Con- 
ditions Service  is  cooperating  with  the  National  Safety  Council  to 
further  the  teaching  of  safety  as  an  integral  part  of  engineering 
courses,  so  that  every  engineer  may  develop  a  feeling  of  responsibility 
for  the  human  life  affected  by  his  work.  These  engineers  are  in  a 
position  to  influence  the  safety  policies  of  business  management  and 
to  instruct  workers.  To  reach  the  general  field,  the  Service  will  en- 
courage safety-first  lessons  in  public  schools.  This  will  help  in  bring- 
ing the  "  safety-first  "  habit  into  everyday  relations. 

The  Division  of  Safety  Engineering  is  projecting  a  bureau  of 
speakers  and  lecturers  in  safety  for  the  convenience  and  assistance  of 
agencies  inaugurating  special  campaigns  and  educational  work.  The 
encouragement  and  furtherance  of  safety  exhibits,  films,  and  lantern 
slides,  illustrating  safety  problems  are  also  in  the  program  of  the 
division. 

Another  phase  of  work  of  the  national  clearing  house  for  indus- 
trial safety  is  promoting  uniformity  in  State  safety  standards,  in 
keeping  injury  statistics,  safety  forms  and  records,  and  in  establish- 
ing safe  practices.  Uniformity  will  develop  only  under  a  central 
agency.  The  division  is  analyzing  accident  data  as  a  basis  for  de- 
termining what  standards  should  be  generally  established.  Records 
must  be  standardized  for  use  in  comparative  study  which  will  put 
the  experience  of  the  trade  at  the  service  of  the  employer. 

In  addition  to  the  work  of  the  central  office,  the  Service  offers 
industries  the  services  of  consulting  experts  in  safety.  The  Service 
makes  studies  of  local  plant  conditions  and  needs,  and  advises 
on  types  of  safety  organization  and  devices  that  are  desirable  for 
each  distinctive  plant.  Upon  request,  these  experts  visit  the  offices 
of  managers  where  they  can  study  the  problem  at  first  hand  and  talk 
over  difficulties.  These  experts  advise  employers  how  to  record  and 
analyze  their  injury  statistics  and  furnish  record  forms  and  practical 
devices  when  requested.  They  advise  as  to  what  safety  methods  and 
devices  are  best  adapted  to  a  particular  trade  and  work  environment. 
They  suggest  safeguards  for  special  hazards  and  furnish  designs. 
They  also  assist  in  installing  safety  organizations,  routines,  and 
practices. 

Every  plant  has  an  individuality.  No  stereotyped  organization 
will  prove  uniformly  effective  in  all  trades  or  with  all  kinds  of  work- 
ers. The  safety  organization  must  be  adapted  to  the  particular 
trade  and  workshop  and  must  meet  special  problems  arising  out  of 
machinery,  tools,  or  materials  used,  foreign  languages  spoken  by  im- 
migrant workers,  and  racial  antipathies. 


11 

DIVISION  OF  LABOR  ADMINISTRATION. 

Industrial  health  and  safety  are  recognized  as  fundamentally 
scientific  problems.  But  these  problems  must  be  handled  with  full 
awareness  that  human  beings  are  affected  and  that  human  beings 
have  the  same  characteristics  the  world  over — whether  employers, 
salaried  men,  or  wage  earners.  Each  "  wants  to  be  somebody  " — to 
have  his  hopes,  opinions,  and  interests  considered.  If  these  workers 
only  obey  orders,  if  their  labor  and  even  their  welfare  are  directed 
solely  for  the  interests  of  the  employer,  the  workers  differ  little  from 
animals  and  the  machines  of  production.  Their  initiative  is  crushed, 
they  themselves  feel  shackled,  injured,  and  resentful.  Under  such 
conditions  the  employer  loses  because  no  worker  will  or  can  do  the 
quality  or  quantity  of  work  he  would  do  if  all  his  faculties  were 
working  under  the  urge  of  personal  interest. 

The  relation  between  management  and  employed  ought  to  be  those 
between  human  beings.  For  some  years  the  tendency  in  the  manu- 
facturing world,  due  in  a  large  measure  to  large-scale  production 
under  corporation  control,  has  been  to  dehumanize  industrial  rela- 
tions. Owners  and  employees  have  no  immediate  contact  and  busi- 
ness management  is  under  the  direction  of  salaried  employees. 

While  money  and  experts  have  been  freely  used  to  develop  the 
technical  side  of  production,  until  recently  little  thought  was  given 
to  the  human  element  in  production.  Nevertheless  the  "  good  will " 
of  workers  is  an  asset  of  the  greatest  value  to  the  management. 

Such  good  will  must  be  founded  on  mutual  regard  and  considera- 
tion. Employees  must  be  shown  that  they  gain  a  definite  benefit 
from  joint  relationship  with  the  management.  Where  good  will 
exists  there  is  developed  a  stable  working  force,  which,  in  turn,  gives 
the  management  skilled  service  trained  in  the  plant  methods.  The 
expense  of  hiring  and  training  new  employees  is  reduced.  Costs  of 
spoiled  materials,  accidents,  delayed  production,  and  general  fric- 
tion attending  adjustments  are  reduced.  Shop  morale  develops. 
But  it  should  be  remembered  always  that  "  good  will "  is  the  out- 
come of  sincerity  of  purpose  and  justice. 

Those  who  have  been  studying  the  problems  arising  out  of  govern- 
ing a  work  force,  have  developed  practices  and  methods  of  labor 
administration  that  bring  most  effective  results.  The  technique  in 
this  field  is  developing  definite  form  and  tendencies  and  ought  to  be 
utilized  by  all  responsible  for  determining  employment  policies. 

As  there  is  a  good  way  to  deal  with  every  problem,  so  some  methods 
of  selecting  and  hiring  employees  lead  to  better  results  than  others. 
To  determine  the  value  of  methods,  the  management  must  have  ade- 
quate records  showing  results  for  both  employers  and  employees.  A 
central  agency  must  collect  data  of  existing  practices  and  their  work- 


12 

ings  and  by  studying  these  data  develop  the  best  policies  and 
methods.  This  is  the  function  of  the  Division  of  Labor  Administra- 
tion, which  seeks  to  open  an  unobstructed  channel  through  which 
the  best  employment  policies  and  practices  of  the  country  may  pass 
into  universal  usage. 

As  a  nucleus  for  a  central  reference  library,  the  division  is  collect- 
ing and  analyzing  data  upon  the  following  general  elements  of  indus- 
trial activity: 

Source  of  Labor  Supply. — Where  and  how  to  secure  the  labor  needed  for 
various  kinds  of  work. 

Central  Employment  Department. — How  to  organize  a  centralized  depart- 
ment to  supervise  the  employment  of  the  labor  forces  of  the  plant.  (Model 
blank  forms  for  administration  and  record  keeping  have  been  devised  and 
are  furnished  to  managements  upon  request.  Assistance  is  being  given  in  estab- 
lishing employment  departments  and  installing  improved  employment  methods.) 

Hiring  and  Selecting  Employees. — How  to  choose  carefully  workers  that 
are  fitted  for  the  jobs  available  and  how  to  avoid  misfitting  men. 

Job  Analysis. — How  to  analyze  each  job  in  the  plant  so  that  the  exact  mental 
and  physical  qualities  needed  by  the  workman  in  order  to  succeed  in  each  job 
may  be  known. 

Assigning  Men  to  Duties. — Methods  of  "  breaking  in  "  new  help,  introducing 
them  to  new  jobs  and  new  fellow-employees  so  as  to  make  it  easier  for  them 
to  adjust  themselves  to  new  surroundings,  and  thus  prevent  them  from  becoming 
discouraged  and  quitting. 

Promotion  and  Transfer. — How  to  supervise  workers  on  their  jobs,  to  see 
that  they  are  promoted  whenever  opportunity  offers,  and  to  arrange  transfers 
to  more  suitable  occupations  when  not  fitted  for  work  first  assigned. 

Labor  Turnover. — How  to  reduce  the  rotation  of  the  workers  in  the  plant. 
Methods  of  discovering  the  real  reasons  that  keep  workers  constantly  quitting 
and  measures  for  eliminating  causes  of  dissatisfaction.  Methods  also  of  keep- 
ing records  of  labor  turnover  so  that  increases  may  be  promptly  noticed  and 
dealt  with  accordingly. 

Absenteeism  and  Tardiness. — How  to  keep  records  of  absences  and  tardiness 
among  workers,  watch  increases  in  number  and  methods  of  reducing  absences 
and  tardiness  to  a  minimum. 

Regularizing  Employment. — How  to  transfer  men  and  arrange  work  so  that 
men  will  not  have  to  be  laid  off  and  suffer  unemployment  and  the  labor  force 
disorganized. 

Restaurants  and  Lunch  Rooms. — Information  regarding  best  methods  of  pro- 
viding restaurant  and  lunching  facilities  for  employees. 

Complaints  and  Grievances. — Best  methods  of  receiving  and  handling  com- 
plaints and  grievances  of  employees  in  order  to  avoid  suspicion  and  conflict 
between  men  and  management. 

Rules  and  Regulations. — How1  to  prepare  a  handbook  of  regulations  con- 
taining the  labor  management  policies  of  the  plant  and  getting  the  employees  to 
cooperate  in  framing  and  enforcing  rules. 

Plant  Paper. — Advice  and  assistance  in  establishing  and  conducting  a  plant 
paper  for  educating  employees  and  securing  better  understanding. 

Housing. — Methods  of  providing  housing  facilities  for  employees  and  con- 
ducting rooming-house  registries. 

Recreation. — How  to  provide  and  organize  recreation  among  employees. 


13 

Insurance  and  Pensions. — Methods  of  establishing  and  conducting  insurance 
and  pension  funds  for  employees. 

General  Service. — Methods  of  providing  legal  advice  for  employees  to  protect 
them  against  fraud  and  extortion,  establishing  savings  systems,  granting  loans, 
and  maintaining  other  similar  services  for  employees. 

This  division  has  organized  its  work  under  three  branches — infor- 
mation service,  consulting  service,  and  standardization  service. 

Under  information  service,  in  addition  to  the  employment  refer- 
ence library  mentioned  above,  the  division  has  ready  for  use  meth- 
ods of  tabulating  employment  and  turnover  statistics,  organized 
systems  of  employment  forms  and  systems,  and  a  register  of  quali- 
fied employment  managers  and  personnel  directors. 

In  order  to  make  this  information  available  for  general  use  the 
division  issues  from  time  to  time  labor  administration  circulars  and 
bulletins,  bibliographies,  and  laboratory  material  for  employment 
management  courses.  Upon  request,  special  reports  are  compiled, 
specific  information  is  supplied,  accredited  experts  are  sent  for  special 
conferences,  and  public  speakers  are  supplied. 

Another  kind  of  assistance  furnished  employers  is  the  consulting 
service.  Employment  experts  are  sent  to  discuss  with  employers 
problems  of  labor  turnover  and  methods  of  keeping  and  using  records 
of  labor  turnover  and  holdover,  effective  employment  organization, 
and  special  problems  of  administering  the  labor  force.  If  desired, 
these  employment  experts  design  for  the  management  of  plants  vis- 
ited employment  forms,  blanks,  and  record  systems,  and  show  them 
how  to  tabulate  statistics. 

They  advise  the  management  as  to  the  layout  and  equipment  of 
employment  offices  and  upon  request  assist  in  installing  an  employ- 
ment organization  and  training  those  who  are  to  direct  it. 

Books  of  rules  and  regulations  will  be  drawn  up  for  special  plants 
or  trades. 

The  natural  result  of  the  Division  of  Labor  Administration  is 
standardization  of  those  methods  and  policies  which  have  demon- 
strated greatest  effectiveness.  Theory  and  technique  will  be  de- 
veloped with  definiteness,  employment  policies  will  be  improved, 
qualifications  necessary  for  employment  managers  will  be  standard- 
ized, and  professional  ethics  will  be  raised. 

The  work  of  the  division  will  make  for  decreased  cost  of  produc- 
tion, greater  efficiency  of  workers  in  production  and  better  industrial 
relations. 

RESEARCH  BRANCH. 

The  work  done  by  these  three  divisions  covers  three  distinct  fields 
which  must  necessarily  be  coordinated  in  order  that  development 
shall  be  with  regard  to  relative  importance  and  to  industrial  applica- 


14 

tion.  Development  of  any  one  field  separately  would  tend  to  subor- 
dinate the  other  two.  In  order  to  make  this  theoretical  coordination 
effective  the  Research  Branch  of  the  Service  will  function  for  all 
three  divisions  to  the  extent  that  it  uncovers  in  each  particular  plant 
problems  that  must  receive  separate  consideration.  No  satisfactory 
work  can  be  done  in  any  field  without  an  accurate  knowledge  of  all 
the  factors  involved.  The  Working  Conditions  Service  aims  to 
tender  not  only  a  special  service  to  industry,  but  it  is  founded  upon  a 
scientific  basis.  Its  personnel  is  highly  trained  and  selected  because 
of  familiarity  with  the  basic  problems  of  industry  in  so  far  as  these 
pertain  to  health,  safety  and  the  psychology  of  human  activity. 

Every  effort  is  made  to  increase  the  technical  efficiency  of  this 
personnel.  There  is  close  supervision  maintained  of  the  researches 
made  and  a  consulting  service  organized  to  make  available  the  as- 
sistance of  the  leading  specialists  in  the  respective  fields  of  ventila- 
tion, fatigue,  sanitation,  health,  and  like  factors  that  enter  into  the 
problems  of  safe  and  hygienic  working  conditions. 

Primarily  organized  to  conduct  researches  into  hazards,  it  is  able 
to  direct  special  surveys  for  particular  plants  and  to  serve  in  an  ad- 
visory capacity  all  industrial  establishments  confronted  with  similar 
problems. 

To  this  end  district  offices  have  been  opened  in  New  York,  Phila- 
delphia, Pittsburgh,  Cleveland,  Chicago,  and  St.  Louis.  Offices  are 
contemplated  in  Boston  and  Birmingham  when  the  funds  of  the 
Service  justify  the  expenditures.  These  offices  are  at  the  command 
of  industries  within  their  territorial  boundaries  for  information  or 
technical  research  service  as  the  needs  of  the  industries  may  require. 

Through  this  Research  Branch,  service  has  been  rendered  to  a 
great  variety  of  industrial  plants,  including  work  on  such  problems 
as  lead  poisoning  in  various  processes  connected  with  storage  battery 
manufactories,  paint  works,  pottery  production;  as  dust  removal 
from  powder  production  and  powder  loading  plants,  grinding  rooms, 
crushing  processes  in  a  great  variety  of  industries;  ventilation  de- 
vices; chemical  hazards;  heat  hazards;  improved  lighting;  water 
supplies;  waste  destruction;  insanitary  housing,  and  other  factors 
within  and  without  the  plants  that  have  puzzled  pl^nt  managers 
and  at  whose  request  the  Service  has  felt  impelled  to  furnish  needed 
research  and  constructive  advice. 

The  Research  Branch  of  the  Service  makes  intensive  studies  into 
special  hazards,  occupational  and  mechanical,  and  uncovers  problems 
to  be  studied  and  determined  by  specialists.  Due  to  the  scientific 
nature  of  the  fields,  the  research  work  is  concerned  chiefly  with  work- 
ing conditions  as  they  affect  health  and  safety  of  workers. 

The  research  force  is  in  the  field,  detailed  to  six  district  offices 
and  is  made  up  of  high-grade  medical  men,  sanitary,  chemical,  me- 


15 

chanical,  and  production  engineers,  specialists  in  their  line  in  prob- 
lems affecting  industries. 

District  offices  were  opened  in  order  to  furnish  expeditiously  a 
consulting  service  to  industries  within  the  territorial  boundaries  of 
the  districts.  Direction  of  the  research  force  and  the  work  of  dis- 
trict offices  comes  from  the  central  office. 

The  Working  Conditions  Service  desires  to  help  any  industry 
with  any  problems  in  industrial  health,  medical  and  surgical  organi- 
zation and  care,  safety  organization  and  education,  and  the  multi- 
tudinous phases  of  labor  administration.  As  a  governmental  agency 
it  is  in  a  position  to  render  nonpartisan,  impartial  findings  and 
advice.  Since  the  work  of  the  Service  is  not  upon  a  commercial 
basis,  the  element  of  financial  interest  will  not  interfere  with  its 
scientific  work.  The  one  purpose  which  the  Working  Conditions 
Service  seeks  to  further  is  the  improvement  of  working  conditions. 


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MAR  09m 


